FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS [Abstract]

Fair Value of Financial Instruments, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Financial Instruments

Fair value of financial instruments

The carrying value of financial instruments, including cash, accounts receivable, and accounts payable and accrued liabilities, approximate their fair value due to the short-term nature of these items. The fair value of our Senior Debt (as defined hereinafter) is included in Note 5, “Long-term Debt and Other Financing Arrangements”.

Derivative financial instruments

We use derivative financial instruments for the purpose of mitigating currency risks, which exist as part of ongoing business operations. As a policy, we do not engage in speculative or leveraged transactions, nor do we hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading purposes.

Forward exchange contracts and currency swaps are used to mitigate exposures to currency fluctuations on certain short-term transactions generally denominated in currencies other than our functional currency. These contracts are marked to market at the balance sheet date, and the resultant unrealized gains and losses are recorded in the Consolidated Statement of Operations, together with realized gains and losses arising on settlement of these contracts.

ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosure”, establishes a hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to those valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (level 3 measurements). The three levels of the fair value hierarchy are:

Basis of Fair Value Measurement

Level 1 Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets that are accessible at the measurement date for identical, unrestricted instruments.

Level 2 Quoted prices in markets that are not considered to be active or financial instruments for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.

Level 3 Prices or valuations that require inputs that are both significant to the fair value measurement and unobservable.

A financial instrument’s level within the fair value hierarchy is based on the lowest level of any input that is significant to the fair value measurement.